Attorney's Offices' Staffing Is Decried, (2 lawmakers upbraid Gonzales)

[Rose Siding]

snip>
U.S. Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said in a letter to Gonzales that federal prosecutors had been starved of resources although for four years the Justice Department's budget had grown faster than inflation — from $1.349 billion in fiscal year 2001 to $1.588 billion in 2006.

"The disparity between increased funding for U.S. attorneys overall and drastic shortages in staff and supplies in individual offices raises questions about Justice Department management," they wrote.
...
"Does it affect the number of prosecutions of bad guys? Absolutely," said one member of the (LA atty's) office, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the issue. "There is a feeling main Justice doesn't care."
...
At the office in the downtown federal courthouse, basic supplies, like envelopes and binder clips, are scarce....
Attorneys have been advised to remove microwaves and small refrigerators from their offices because high power bills have prompted their landlord, the General Services Administration, to threaten to raise the rent.
...
Similar staffing problems exist in Washington, Maryland and Chicago. In Philadelphia, the U.S. attorney's office is now charging indigent defendants for photocopies of exculpatory material that the government is constitutionally required to provide, the letter said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-usatty25jul25,0,6153902.story?coll=la-home-nation

[rodeodance]

1. moved the cash-rich Immigration and Naturalization Service" to HS.

......Dennis Boyd, executive director of the National Assn. of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, said the number of unfilled full-time positions in U.S. attorney's offices nationwide had jumped from 198 in fiscal year 2004 to 765 in May.

"In total, U.S. attorneys are down more than anybody can remember," he said.

He said the shortage had caused billions of dollars in criminal and civil debt to go uncollected and had curtailed efforts to target gangs, violent crimes and white-collar crimes as well as bankruptcy fraud. Prosecutors are not as able to use expert witnesses or to travel to interview witnesses, he added.

"In a serious healthcare fraud case," he wrote in a recent memo, "the targets turned over hard drives with case details; however, conversion of the hard drives to written documents was too expensive and is now dead."

Boyd said the reorganization that moved the cash-rich Immigration and Naturalization Service from the Justice Department to Homeland Security added to the shortfall, and he said Congress' take-backs had taken a toll.

[BanzaiBonnie]

2. But, you can feel okay about this

because the Feds are going after the porn industry --- big time.

I'm sure this will make us feel better. I feel safer already.

[Rose Siding]

3. They can't even afford to collect in cases already won-

snip>
He said the shortage had caused billions of dollars in criminal and civil debt to go uncollected and had curtailed efforts to target gangs, violent crimes and white-collar crimes as well as bankruptcy fraud. Prosecutors are not as able to use expert witnesses or to travel to interview witnesses, he added.

"In a serious healthcare fraud case," he wrote in a recent memo, "the targets turned over hard drives with case details; however, conversion of the hard drives to written documents was too expensive and is now dead."

[Drum]

4. Kick

[BR_Parkway]

5. How much $$ was spent trying to justify the Urinary Exective bull

as they've dismantled the Constitution?

[lthuedk]

6. Creeping fascism attempting to destroy the law-nothing to see here.

Gee, I wonder what Al Capone's lawyer would have done had he been AG. BushCo needs to shut down what amounts to any further prosecution of themselves or their surrogates, and starvation works wonders. From there, tribunals, presidential decrees, and Blackwater enforcement are all thats needed to bring democracy down.

Its what the mob does.

[saigon68]

8. My Picture is cute too

[xchrom]

7. k&r

[Straight Shooter]

9. I'm curious as to the fund squeeze on blue vs. red states.

Your state didn't carry bush? Then wham! Let the victims of crime suffer.

I think the bush administration respects and rewards the criminal mind. The IRS is whittling down the department which audits high-income taxpayers, who, IMO, are most likely to evade the greatest amount of taxes. Or maybe the IRS thinks it isn't worth the time and energy to fight a battalion of lawyers and accountants.

It's been obvious from the beginning that bush despises lawyers, though. Remember, this administration has no lawyers, or maybe only one other, besides Gonzales. And to call Gonzales a lawyer is really stretching it.

[Uncle Joe]

10. How on earth did Gonzo ever pass the bar exam?

I am not an attorney but, don't you have to know something about the constitution and ethics? I realize that knowing does not mean living by, but this is a tragedy.